The Best Star Wars Theories About Rey's Parents

Right now, only a handful of people know the answer to the biggest secret in the Star Wars universe: Who are Rey's parents? The poor young woman was abandoned on a rather shitty sand planet full of criminals, scoundrels, and jerks left to scavenge scraps for bits of space bread. Who are these people who left her to mark her number of days spent alone on the side of her shack?

It's the all-consuming mystery, the answer to which J.J. Abrams revealed to actress Daisy Ridley during the filming of The Force Awakens years ago. Interestingly enough, Rian Johnson, who directed The Last Jedi, says that Abrams left him with the story to create as he saw fit—meaning there was no direction on who Rey's parents should be. Though these accounts don't match up (and could be clever subversion by the directors), Johnson claims that he and Abrams independently came to the same conclusion of who Rey's family should be. While this doesn't say much, it does imply that the answer to this question will be revealed in The Last Jedi (one of many similarities to the big "I'm your father" moment from The Empire Strikes Back).

Naturally, there are a lot of theories out there about who these deadbeat space parents could be. These range from obvious, to intriguing, to just plain stupid, and we're going to run through the best ones here. And one of these might be right, so stop reading now if you don't want any potential spoilers.

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Luke Skywalker

Yes, no shit: it's probably Luke Skywalker. This is the easiest answer, given this is a story about the Skywalker family. Everyone's a Skywalker! Hell, you're probably a Skywalker. We don't know exactly what happened to Luke after The Return of the Jedi other than he trained a bunch of Jedi, whom his own pupil Kylo Ren killed. Maybe he had a family before everything went bad, and when it all fell apart and his Jedi school failed, he hid his daughter to protect her. We know he's kind of a deadbeat, since he vanished from a big important war, so why wouldn't he be a deadbeat dad, too? That would also explain why Rey had such a strong attachment to Luke's lightsaber, and why he's hesitant to train someone who could be drawn to the dark side like the rest of his damn family.

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The Solos

The next most prominent theory is that Han Solo and Leia are Rey's parents. It's kind of odd that they'd ditch her in such an unpleasant place, but maybe when their son, Kylo Ren (aka Ben Solo), went nuts and joined the dark side, they dropped off their youngest daughter in a place where no one would find her. This would certainly explain the strange connection between Ren and Rey, along with their interactions in the trailers for the upcoming movie. Along with that, actor Adam Driver appeared to be hesitant to reveal his character's age, which would likely create a timeline that makes them siblings or even twins (which seems to be a Skywalker family thing).

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The Kenobis

This is my favorite theory, even if it does have some holes. Those of us Kenobi Shippers believe that Old Ben Kenobi is actually Rey's grandfather (not his daughter, because that wouldn't make sense). People say this theory doesn't work because Obi-Wan would never break the Jedi code and get married. But that's ridiculous. After seeing the Jedi get completely removed from the galaxy, why couldn't the poor old guy find love on Tatooine and have himself some kids? And in order to protect his loved ones as the Empire got stronger, he sent them into hiding. Then, when the First Order rose to power, the Kenobi family once again needed to keep their identities secret. The best evidence for this theory is that when Rey has her first vision you can hear Alec Guinness's original Obi-Wan say her name, which J.J. Abrams has said was cut from audio of the late-actor saying "afraid."

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There Was No Father

Now, this isn't as crazy as it sounds, given that The Phantom Menace reveals that Anakin Skywalker was the result of some biblical sci-fi immaculate conception. According to this theory, Rey is the result of some Force pregnancy in the same way Shmi gave birth to Anakin. This seems like a...bad idea. But, given that there is precedent in the universe, it's still entirely possible.

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The Palpatines

Doesn't Rey Palpatine have a nice ring to it? No,not really, but hear me out on this one, because the Internet has come up with some crazy evidence to make this theory somewhat compelling. In this one, Rey wouldn't be his daughter, but his grand or great granddaughter or some other sort of ancestor to the Palpatine lineage. As a Reddit thread has pointed out, Rey's naming mechanics seem to point to some sort of royal ancestry, with "Rey" being Spanish for "king." Her fighting style also seems to be strangely familiar to that of Palpatine's. But it could be possible, given we (thankfully) know little about the Emperor's love life. Who knows? Maybe while he was secretly hiding within the Galactic Senate Palpatine had a big happy family at home.

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A Jedi and a Sith

Now wouldn't this be the intergalactic version of Romeo and Juliet? As this theory goes, a Jedi (likely one being trained by Luke) and a Sith (likely one who followed Ren) were in love, or fell in love, and had a child, which they needed to hide from both sides of the fight. This would explain why neither the First Order nor the Resistance really know who the hell Rey is. It also might fit with the whole theory of the Gray Jedi, that someone who is neither light nor dark can bring balance to the force. This would also explain why Luke is hesitant to train Rey if she's the daughter of a Sith lord.

Matt MillerCulture EditorMatt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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